Sandia National Labs (SNL)
Contract Amount: $1,284,673.10
Improvements to the water distribution system in Technical Area 1 on Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) utilizing trenchless technology to replace deteriorated portions of the waterline throughout the tech area. A total of 4,450 LF of 6” to 12” waterline was replaced during this project; approximately 66% through pipe bursting and 34% through open-cut-and-replace.
There were approximately 700 potholes through the duration of this project. At one intersection alone, there were 21 undocumented utilities. Upon locating these utilities, AUI would coordinate with SNL representatives to get a GPS reading on the utility line, determine if the line was active or inactive, and add the line to the as-built documents for this project. Each situation concerning an unknown underground facility presented unique challenges including the need for penetration permits, and modification to the proposed waterline installation plan to avoid conflicts with these facilities.
This project occurred throughout Technical Area 1 on various streets heavily traveled by both vehicles and pedestrians, near SNL employee work areas and parking lots. The AUI team was challenged with keeping traffic flowing, keeping the affected work areas and employees informed, maintaining safety and space for pedestrians, and promoting construction area safety awareness for those who might find themselves in the construction area.
Throughout this project, maintaining water service to offices and laboratories was a critical issue. AUI was able to work out a schedule with the SNL representatives so that the shoo-fly or bypass waterlines could be set in place and water service to these facilities would only be interrupted long enough to connect into these temporary lines (less than 2 hours). The process would be reversed to re-connect the facilities to the water distribution system once the waterline serving the facility was replaced.
AUI is proud to have participated in this project for SNL that was an adventure into utilizing trenchless technology as an efficient and effective means of rehabilitating waterline in a highly congested area for which maintaining the water supply was a crucial issue.